Acquaintance of Interest
by KuroyukiAihara
Summary: They say 'keep your friends close, your enemies closer'. Yet when someone takes a particular interest in him for unknown reasons, Ciel is faced with a dillema. Which is it? Friend or foe?
1. Chapter 1

Everything was dark. Ciel only noticed it when he lifted his eyes off the paper after waiting for an answer from Sebastian that did not came. He was indefinitely sure of himself that he was just walking down the Phantomhive's manor towards his study with a letter in hand and Sebastian in tow. But now he is standing in the middle of the dark space, …well, what he assumed was a dark space as there was nothing else that he could see in the inky blackness. The pit of his stomach begins to turn.

'_The contract hasn't completed yet, has it?_'

He turned around and called for the butler. "Sebastian! What's the meaning of this?"

A moment or two passed. No answer. Ciel gritted his teeth, rage building up in him.

"Sebastian! I order you to come here!", he yelled and took off his eye patch. The mark glowed in his eye with a purplish hue. Yet still, no Sebastian came to his command. His clench on the black patch tightened.

A strong gust suddenly blew from behind and Ciel found himself turning around again, his arms held high in front of him, a reflexive action from all the unexpected dangers he had gone through. But what came was no apparent danger. Not even Sebastian. Instead, it was a towering mahogany office door with intricate silver casted handles.

On the door, a metallic plaque with bold initials highlighted in bronze hue was attached.

'A.C.'

Ciel squinted and spied thin letters under the initials that spelled out 'Portal Keeper'. He paused. Try as he might, he just couldn't recall ever hearing any position like that. And with the strange dimension he was currently in, he figured Sebastian would know more about this.

'_But where the hell is he?_' A voice at the back of his mind whispered, with silent fury, to him to have some form of suitable punishment ready for the demonic butler when he gets back. Preferably something along the lines of lending Sebastian to a certain red headed reaper for an undisclosed amount of time. But such thoughts were put on hold first. Like it or not, he concluded Sebastian is not going to save him any time sooner and decided to tread carefully. A creature that is able to snatch him right under the demon's nose would most probably possess strength equal, or dare he say, in excess of Sebastian's.

Ciel circled the door and found it to be quite two dimensional. The back of the door is exactly the same as the one in front and there were no hinges on its sides. It seems apparent that it won't make a difference no matter which side of the door is opened. Ciel collected his thoughts. The only obvious thing to do was to enter it. Yet everything smelled like a disgustingly obtuse trap. He sighed and put his eye patch back on, internally quite relieved he had (sort of) mastered how to tie his patch on his own.

His hands gripped the silver handles, but a thought stopped him in his tracks again. '_No. I'm in his world now._' Ciel lets go of the handles and breathed in deep.

He knocked.


	2. Chapter 2

He knocked. Once. Twice.

Then the sound of soft murmuring was heard on the other side of the door. He couldn't catch what they were saying so he positioned his ear closer to the door. The talking stopped.

A voice spoke, "Come in. The door's unlocked."

Indeed. The door let out a click and opened by itself, leaving just an enough space for a breeze of cold air and a particularly interesting smell to slip through. Ciel took a step back. He played the voice on repeat. He couldn't tell if it was a man's or a woman's. The heavy door muffled and filtered it too much to be recognisable.

His pulse raced and his heart skipped. His whole being tugged at him, feet ready to place some distance between him and the suspicious door.

'_But to where?' _His mind went blank. With forced resignation and a heavy sighed, he gripped the handle and pushed through. '_I have made a pact with a demon. Things couldn't get much worse, really.'_

Ciel halted his advances after taking just two steps into the room; his hand whited from gripping the handle so tightly. And it was more of an office, he realised. Ciel's blue eye fell on the two figures occupying the opposite side of the room, a man, sitting behind a large dark brown mahogany desk while the other, a woman, stood beside.

"Welcome Earl Phantomhive." The man rose from his chair and gestured his hand to the couch situated in the centre of the room. The woman just stood there, unmoving.

In the bright light of the grandiose French window, Ciel spotted the man's metallic silver eyes and his cryptic smile. Ciel could honestly swear he felt a pang of sudden annoyance. He had tied the middle part of his long bangs back into a small messy knot, the sides were let down to frame his face. The rest of it were loose, wild and reached his shoulders. He looked quite young, around his late 20s, but Ciel knew otherworldly beings tend to have tremendous interest in disguising their age with deceptively youthful appearances. '_Vain to the bones._' It repulsed him.

The woman looked like she was in her early 20s. Her features were mostly ordinary. She had brown hair parted on the left with its length reaching a little lower than her shoulders. Ciel would've regarded her to have low potential threat if it were not for her electrifying emerald eyes. It reminded Ciel of Lizzy's when they were onboard the Campaignia. It was the look of a soul ready to kill or be killed. Sharp and attentive, he felt like she was watching his every move. Ciel hated the sensation but kept mummed.

He lets go of the handle and the door closed itself with a soft click. '_There goes my chance of escaping._' Ciel moved slowly towards the couch while at the same time, trying to absorb as much of the room as he can in a glance. At the back of his mind, something silently tugged at him over that overpowering scent.

Ciel sat on the couch, arms crossed and an eye, glared. "I would appreciate it if my kidnapper has the courtesy of introducing himself first." He was careful to not let the tone falter.

Something flickered in those silver orbs and the man suddenly threw his head back and laughed. It was probably the biggest laugh CIel had heard in a while and as much as he tried to deny it, it reminded him of how Vincent would laugh back in those sun blazed and cherry scented days. The man was already heaving, out of breath from his fit of laughter.

Ciel gritted his teeth. '_Unbecomingly rude and annoying_', Ciel's fuse was getting shorter by the seconds. "Enough of that already!"

"Ahaha! I am so sorry. Pardon my behaviour, Earl, but your straightforwardness is really refreshing." He was finally calming down however that ridiculous smirk was still plastered in his face. He cleared his throat and bowed.

"I am Alexavier Carrows, a Portal Keeper."


End file.
